KUALA LUMPUR, May 15 — City police crippled another “Macau scam” syndicate with the arrest of 13 Chinese nationals bringing the total number of suspects detained since January to 68.
Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Tajudin Mat Isa said the latest arrest was made possible following a police report by a 31-year-old salesman on June 25 last year.
“We have been tracking down this syndicate for almost a year and finally got a lead on them on Wednesday,” he said.
Tajudin said the victim received a call from a syndicate member who told him he had RM10,000 outstanding payment for a credit card.
He denied owning a credit card but was convinced by the suspect to get in touch with a Bank Negara Malaysia ‘‘officer’’.
“The supposed ‘officer’ then instructed the victim to transfer RM5,000 each to two different local bank accounts before his account with RM10,000 is frozen,” Tajudin said.
The victim only realised he was duped after he transferred the money and contacted his original bank.
Following 11 months of investigation, police launched Ops Pelican and raided a luxury apartment in Jalan Yap Kwan Seng and arrested the 13 Chinese nationals aged between 20 and 48.
“Only five had passports while the rest were undocumented,” he said.
He said the syndicate members were believed to have lived in the country for less than three months.
“We also seized equipment including laptops, wireless modems, a note book, cash and eight mobile phones,” he said.
Tajudin said police believed the syndicate members selected their victims randomly from a list of mobile numbers they had in their custody.
On April 17, Kuala Lumpur police nabbed 52 Chinese nationals, including 26 women, from six luxury condominiums in the city after two months of surveillance.
The syndicate was spending at least RM100,000 a month on rental for the condominiums and had cooks and housekeepers to ensure their members did not have to leave the units.
Initial investigations revealed the syndicate members were forcefully hired and paid RM2,000 a month.
